Dover football ban proposal surprises some

DOVER — Dover High School athletic director Peter Wotton said he was caught off-guard by the news that a member of the Dover School Board proposed cutting the school's football program.

"I wasn't aware it was going to come up (at the Board meeting) Monday night," Wotton said. "This was a little bit of a shock that it came out on the front page of the Foster's."

Board member Paul Butler, a retired physician, proposed at Monday night's School Board meeting that the city's schools drop football, citing concerns about the long-term effect of concussions. The subject was not discussed further at the meeting.

"I think it's the moral thing to do, the ethical thing to do to try to stop football at Dover High School and throughout Dover," Butler said.

Wotton, who played football at Spaulding and hockey at the University of New Hampshire, said Dr. Butler approached Wotton for information on the football program last spring and again last week. Superintendent Jean Briggs appointed Wotton to speak for the athletic department. No other athletic officials were permitted to speak, including head football coach Ken Osbon.

School board member Rocky D'Andrea, who is also a local youth baseball coach, said Dr. Butler's proposal was brought up at the end of the meeting, which is usually reserved for special announcements and what D'Andrea referred to as "fluff." D'Andrea said he doesn't think the proposal will gain much traction on the School Board.

"I'm not supportive of it," D'Andrea said, stating that there were ways to deal with the serious issues of concussions in sports other than dropping a sport entirely.

"Concussions happen in every sport," D'Andrea said. "I know it's an issue, and I'm not trying to belittle it. But getting rid of a sport? If you get rid of football, you might as well get rid of all sports."

Ernie Clark, who played football for Dover in the late 1960s and is a supervisor of football officials for the NHIAA, called Dr. Butler's proposal a "knee-jerk reaction."

"I think it's such a defeatist attitude," Clark said. "I can't see it happening. Kids can be coached to play the game in a different manner than it was 20 years ago. I've seen a lot of improvement in technique and how the kids are coached. As officials, we can quickly recognize who the good coaches are simply by the technique their players are using."

Concussions and their long-term effects have become a major national storyline in recent years, especially in regards to the sport of football.

Wotton said education about concussions and how to deal with them is key.

"Some people think if they get one concussion, they're done sports," Wotton said. "There's this fear that if they get a concussion, their life's over. That's not the case. The big thing is the recovery time and not returning to play until you're symptom free."

Dr. Fred Brennan, the Medical Director of the Seacoast Center for Athletes and a team physician at the University of New Hampshire, where he also played football, said he doesn't believe there is a trend toward high schools eventually banning football.

"I think what we'll see is a reduction in the number of contact practices," Dr. Brennan said. "I don't think that's unreasoanble. I realize you have to have some contact practices during the week, but players typically hit and get hit more in practice than during games."

Wotton said athletes in other sports can be as likely to endure concussions as football players.

"We have to get away from just the sport of football," Wotton said. "Football doesn't have the first, second or I believe third highest rate (of concussions) at Dover High School. That's last year's numbers. This year may be different. Right now football is tied with another sport for the highest number. Therefore football doesn't have the highest rate because we have more kids in the sport."

Dr. Brennan said that the risk of concussions is high in numerous sports other than football.

"Look at cheerleading," he said. "You have athletes getting thrown in the air, taking elbows to the head. In boxing, the object is to give people a concussion. That's not the object of football."

This past summer, a new state law was signed by Gov. John Lynch that mandates coaches and other athletic officials who suspect an athlete has sustained a concussion be required to remove him or her from play immediately and the athlete will have to get written authorization from a health care provider and a parent before returning.

At Monday's School Board meeting, Dr. Butler said it is the duty of the "governors of the school district" to end the game of football altogether before lawsuits and lawyers require the district to do so. This past summer, lawsuits involving thousands of former NFL players affected by concussions and brain injuries were consolidated into one master complaint, which could cost the league millions of dollars. The suit accuses the NFL of hiding information that linked football-related head trauma to permanent brain injuries and illnesses such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Brennan said the key to avoiding lawsuits is training coaches and athletic trainers to make a good-faith effort to recognize concussion symptoms and to err on the side of caution when decided whether or not an athlete should be cleared to resume playing.

"As long as coaches are trained to recognize concussions and players are kept out of the game when they have symptoms, I don't think you can get in trouble for it," he said. "It's when kids get concussed and the coaches say things like 'shake it off' and then something bad happens, that's when lawsuits happen. If you follow the rules — and we're not asking people to be experts — you can't go wrong with sitting (players) out."

Wotton said he can't foresee a time when the Dover football program — which has existed in some form for more than 100 years — ceases to exist.

"I sure would like to believe (it will survive)," he said. "This program has had success. Just the idea of what football is — it's an event. It entails the band, the cheerleaders, the community. That's what makes football so different from the other sports. Good and bad."